Pressure defense by 'second team' propels Clippers

LOS ANGELES – Blake Griffin couldn't say "second team" without putting his fingers in the air to make the quotations.

"I don't like to call it 'second team' because it's not that much of a dropoff," Griffin said. "It's unbelievable how they come into the game and put pressure on teams."

Take Sunday's 89-76 win over the Atlanta Hawks as an example.

Both teams traded minuscule leads for the bulk of the first three quarters before Clippers head coach Vinny Del Negro called on Eric Bledsoe, Jamal Crawford, Matt Barnes, Ronny Turiaf and Ryan Hollins.

That group started the fourth quarter with the Clippers up five. Over six minutes later, the Hawks scored just five points and the lead was 14.

"They were all over the place," Del Negro said.

Only seven games into the season, the Clippers' second unit has established itself as a game-changer on the defensive end.

Chris Paul said it's "somewhat surprising" that the group has jelled this quickly, but the trio of Barnes, Turiaf and Hollins are fully committed to defending.

"They know who they are in this league," Paul said. "That's the key to everything. They know who they are and aren't going to do anything outside of themselves.

"They know what to do; they know what it takes."

Griffin led six Clippers in double figures with 16 points, as the team was 8-for-8 from the foul line.

Josh Smith led the Hawks with 13 points, as Atlanta struggled to find any rhythm offensively thanks to 22 turnovers.

But the story Sunday was the bench.

And that group knows that by creating "havoc," as Bledsoe put it, they can cause massive headaches.